FREDDY SANCHEZ Taking it all in stride…

Freddy Philip Sanchez The day Freddy was born, the doctor informed his parents that Freddy was "deformed" and would never walk. From the way the doctors spoke, it appeared that there was nothing they could do to help him. In an interview, his mother discussed the doctor’s pessimism. "The doctor said he should prepare for a job at a desk where he wouldn't have to be on his feet.” The Sanchez family received a referral to Children's Hospital Los Angeles and to Saul M. Bernstein, MD. Freddy was placed on a regimen of weekly casting to straighten his foot. When the casts didn’t seem to improve Freddy’s condition, Dr. Bernstein performed surgery to help straighten his leg and foot.

a professional baseball player. He played varsity baseball for three years at Burbank High School, then suited up for Glendale Community College, Dallas Baptist University and Oklahoma City University, where he was a National Intercollegiate Association All-American. Freddy has played with the Boston Red Socks, the Pittsburg Pirates, and the San Francisco Giants. One day after his procedure, his mother Michelle was wheeling one-year-old Freddy through the hallways of Children's Hospital Los Angeles in one of the hospital's signature Radio Flyer wagons. With a pin in his right foot, a thigh-high cast on his right leg, and a smaller cast on his left foot, Freddy stepped out of the wagon, and began to walk on his own. "That's when she knew I'd be fine," Freddy says. Freddy's surgery at our hospital, combined with a set of special shoes and a family who refused to allow the word can’t to enter his vocabulary, allowed him to pursue his passion for sports. In elementary school, he set his sights on becoming

What is Clubfoot? It is also called congenital talipes equinovarus (CTEV) and is a congenital deformity involving one foot or bot feeth. The affected foot looks like it has been rotated internally at the ankle. In clubfoot, the tissues connecting the muscles to the bone (tendons) are shorter than usual.

It’s all about attitude! "We never raised him telling him he couldn't do anything or there was something wrong," Michelle Sanchez said. Freddy knew his legs were different. The older he got, the slower he ran compared with some of the other best athletes at Burbank High. To this day, he does back exercises to compensate for his legs "being off-kilter a little bit." They are not as strong as he would like. During one of Sanchez's last public appearances as a Pirate, He went to the Pennsylvania town called Cranberry Township to dedicate a Miracle League baseball field that he helped finance. It has a synthetic surface designed to allow children in wheelchairs or on crutches to play baseball safely. "My handicap and disability, in the big picture, was minimal to nothing compared to what other kids are dealing with. Mine is zero. It's an afterthought," he said. "What these kids are going through, what those families are going through, that's real life. It's such an emotional feeling because you're there and watching kids who probably never played in a baseball game before or haven't been allowed to play because of their handicap or disability, and you're watching their parents who are with them, and this is going to be their first day of going on the field and being able to live their dream.”

"This is what I've wanted to do my whole life," he said. "It is what I'm here to do. Nothing was going to get in my way. I'm too much of a competitor. I thank God every day I was able to get where I am. I want to keep it going. I really believe that God had a purpose for me. This is what I'm supposed to be doing.” Freddy was injured frequently throughout his career, but he kept his positive attitude throughout each surgery. After one such injury he made th following comment: “It’s frustrating. It's disappointing," Sanchez said. "Darn, I was right there. The perfect opportunity opened up coming in, and then all of a sudden, bam! Now I have to work that much harder like I did when I was younger. I know this drill to a T. There's no way I'm going to give up. That's why I'm in here. I'm willing to do whatever they tell me, whatever the doctor tells me. I'm not going to shy away from this thing.”

ACHIEVEMENTS:  - Most Valuable Player for his chapter  - Tony Conigliaro Award for overcoming adversity through spirit, determination and courage.  - January 2007, Burbank High School retired his baseball jersey, No. 21, on Freddy Sanchez Day in a ceremony co-hosted by the City of Burbank  - NL batting champion with a.344 average in 2006

SAN FRANCISCO GIANTS CELEBRATE AFTER THEY WON 3-1 AGAINST THE TEXAS RANGERS IN GAME FIVE OF THE 2010 MLB WORLD SERIES AT RANGERS BALLPARK IN ARLINGTON ON NOVEMBER 1, 2010 IN ARLINGTON, TEXAS.

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